Component IDs

Every component in a harness has a Component ID: a short prefix for its type and a number, such as C1, W3 or S2. IDs identify components everywhere they are named: on the canvas, in the Connections view, wiring tables, exports and validation messages, and when you ask an AI assistant about the harness.

Components inside a linked group are numbered within their group and prefixed with the group’s name, for example Front.C1.

Showing Component IDs

Select Show component IDs in the bottom right corner of the Schematic or Layout view, or press I, to show each component’s ID on the canvas. Connectors, cables and twisted wires show the ID in their header. Splices, diodes, resistors, branch points and terminals show it in a small box above or beside the component, which grows to fit a long label. A selected component’s ID is shown in full colour rather than dimmed.

To include IDs in the PDF, turn on Component IDs under Show in the PDF export panel. They are drawn in the same places as on the canvas.

How IDs Are Numbered

Choose how the harness numbers its IDs under Main Menu → Harness settings → Component IDs → Assign IDs by. The setting is saved with the harness, and the choice you make also becomes the starting point for your new harnesses, the same as the units.

Canvas Position

The default. Components of each type are numbered in order of their position on the Schematic view, from left to right, and wires in order of the components and cavities they connect to. IDs are worked out again whenever the harness changes, so a component’s ID can change when components are moved, added or deleted.

Static

Each component keeps the ID it was given when it was created, however it is moved. A new component takes the next number for its type, and numbers aren’t reused when a component is deleted, so a static harness can have gaps (C1, C2, C4).

When you switch a harness to Static, every component keeps the ID it has at that moment. Switching back to Canvas position asks you to confirm first, because it replaces every static ID with one based on canvas position.

Copied and pasted or duplicated components take new numbers. Components inside a linked group keep the IDs from their source harness.

Renumbering IDs

With Static selected, click Renumber IDs to reassign every component’s ID from its current position on the canvas, closing any gaps. The button is disabled when the IDs already match the canvas positions.

Labelling Components

Give a component a Label, your own name for it such as ECU or GND FRONT, to show that name wherever the component is named. Connectors, terminals, splices, diodes, resistors, cables, twisted wires and branch points can all have a label. A label never changes the component’s ID.

To add a label, right-click the component and type it into the Label field at the top of the menu. To change an existing label, left-click it on the canvas and type. Clear the text to remove the label. A connector’s label is its name, shown in the connector’s header.

On the canvas and in the PDF, a label is always shown in the component’s ID box or header. While Show component IDs is on, the ID is shown alongside it.

Everywhere else a component is named, its label is used in place of its ID: wire ends in the Connections view and wiring tables, cable core names (Sensor.2), validation messages, search, the formboard export, and the titles of PDF connection tables and Excel sheets, which show the ID too (ECU (C1)). A component without a label is named by its ID. When two components share a label, each is shown as label:ID (for example Sensor:C2) so they can be told apart.